Stitchy in Tooki Trouble

A colourful, family friendly 2.5D platformer that makes no effort to hide its inspirations, Stitchy In Tooki Trouble delivers a few hours of well-crafted gaming. For older players, it’ll feel like a blast from the past that’s over just as quickly as it began. For younger players though, Stitchy will keep them engrossed for longer with forgiving systems, luscious worlds and slick platforming play.

This title doesn’t really do anything new or particularly well, but it’s enjoyable, and it can be a good options for newcomers to the platforming genre.

Taken on its own terms, Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is perfectly fine, but when you factor in that you could just play the game(s) that have influenced everything about it, it’s hard to wonder why you’d play this over the original.

Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is clearly an ode to Donkey Kong, but it's just an ode. This game cannot compete with the popular Nintendo franchise due to its strange rhythm, because it simply lacks flow and requires too much patience. A pity, because in all its simplicity Stitchy in Tooki Trouble offers beautiful first steps in the world of platform games, especially for small children.

Stitchy is a decent game, but way too conservative. It doesn’t even try to peek outside the genre’s basics and standards. I think younger players will enjoy it, but older platformer fans will probably get bored. [07/2021, p.41]

Unfortunately, Stitchy in Tooki Trouble might look enticing but my feeling is that it might be a great starter for kids, but will end up being to basic and simple for anyone with even minimal experience in the platformer genre.

Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is a lovely introduction to the genre for younger gamers. Although the title lacks challenge for those more experienced, the passion for the product is evident and will communicate with youths. There are a few missed opportunities but it successfully achieves its goal of being an accessible platformer.

Stitchy in Tooki Trouble isn't going to be fun for experienced platform players, but there are also several design decisions that prevent it from being a good choice for younger players who want to get into the genre. From an unremarkable character and story to a lack of urgency in most parts, the excitement of a platformer just isn't present here. Combine that with some flaky minecart segments, a too-sticky vertical camera, and overly long boss fights, and you have a title that conjures up more frustration than fun. Despite the nice overall presentation in Stitchy, you can easily skip this one in favor of other platformers that do a better job of catering to both kids and adults.

There is an evident charm to the visuals, but Stitchy in Tooki Trouble mimics Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze while offering much less substance: an inferior clone. This adventure works as a simplistic platformer, but nothing more.

Imagine Donkey Kong Country with none of the flair, none of the momentum, none of the secrets, none of the style and none of the grace. It doesn’t even have a funny face. There’s very little to get your teeth into here, though die-hard platform game fans may get some measure of satisfaction from its limited, low-risk take on the genre. We must reiterate – Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is not a badly-made game, it’s just a relentlessly unimpressive one that offers nothing new or even any kind of twist on an existing trope or mechanic. A sequel to Stitchy that perhaps saw fit to include something — anything — to make the game stand out, that could marry its impressive visuals with similarly good level design... now that would be worth a go. As it stands though, this scarecrow excels its most famed pop-culture analogue by lacking a brain, a heart and any courage to speak of.

It isn't a bad game, but Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is just too slow moving and simple for anyone with platforming experience.